Free Republic

This measure would decrease the state retail sales tax rate on April 15, 2016, from 6.5 percent to 5.5 percent. The sales tax rate would not be decreased if, by April 15, 2016, two-thirds of both legislative houses refer to the ballot a vote on a constitutional amendment that requires two-thirds legislative approval or voter approval to raise taxes, and majority legislative approval to set the amount of a fee increase. Initiative 1366 aimed to circumvent citizens' lack of power to initiate constitutional amendments. Eyman's 2015 initiative put the state legislature in a bind, forcing them to either put his...

State high court action could mean higher levies By NEIL MODIE P-I REPORTER Tossing a potential grenade into the 2008 political scene, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Initiative 747, a 2001 measure limiting property tax growth to 1 percent a year, is unconstitutional.

Audio link courtesy of TVW: 6/2/05 Inside Olympia OLYMPIA—Appearing on the June 2 edition of TVW’s Inside Olympia hosted by David Ammons, State Auditor Brian Sonntag agreed with the criticisms offered by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) and Initiative 900 sponsor Tim Eyman concerning the performance audit law passed this session. EFF and Eyman have complained that under the new performance audit law (HB 1064), an unelected political board unnecessarily restricts the state auditor’s ability to conduct performance audits. The text of HB 1064 clearly states that the unelected board will “establish criteria for performance audits” as well as be...

According to conventional wisdom, making government responsive is a conservative issue. All Democrats care about, after all, is making government bigger and more intrusive, not making it leaner and more efficient. So now that Democrats control both houses of the state legislature and the governorship, forget about something like performance audits of state agencies, right? Au contraire. While you might expect Olympia Dems to concentrate on predictable liberal issues--gay rights, tax increases, transit funding--they are instead coming out of the blocks by stealing a page from the Republican playbook: They're talking about making government accountable. Performance audits appear to be...

Most taxpayers, we suspect, share a nagging feeling that somewhere, somehow, government is wasting their money. And despite improvements in fiscal discipline by some local governments - Snohomish County and the City of Everett come to mind - there's little doubt that such feelings are justified. Taxpayers deserve to know that their dollars are being spent wisely and effectively, that state and local governments are getting maximum bang out of every buck. Independent performance audits of government agencies and programs offer the best chance of assuring that happens. State Auditor Brian Sonntag, a Democrat, has been campaigning for performance audits...

Sound Transit can continue to collect its motor-vehicle excise tax, even though the tax was repealed by Initiative 776 two years ago, a judge ruled today. King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu agreed with Sound Transit's argument that ending the tax now would unconstitutionally interfere with a contract it signed with purchasers of agency bonds in 1999. In that contract, Sound Transit promised to keep collecting the 0.3 percent tax until the bonds are paid off. That isn't scheduled to occur until 2028, and over the next 24 years the tax will generate far more revenue than the $350...

Calls traced to Eyman foes EIJIRO KAWADA; The News Tribune R. August Pommerening of Tacoma received a phone call Thursday that sounded like a courtesy notice from his local police department, warning him of the risk of identity theft. The official-sounding recording said the potential culprits might approach him posing as paid signature gatherers for initiative campaigns. Pommerening wondered if he should be worried about it. So he called the Tacoma Police Department and City Hall, but couldn't find out where the call came from. In fact, Pommerening was one of many registered voters in Pierce County who received the...

Tim Eyman wants voters to take back one of every four property tax dollars they pay to local governments -- for a total cut of $550 million statewide. Eyman today is announcing his most far-reaching initiative yet, ``25% Property Tax Initiative.'' It proposes to cut 25 percent from all local governments including cities, counties, sewer, water, fire and cemetery districts. The reaction from opponents, who called the proposal dramatic and unprecedented, was swift. ``I don't think in our history we've seen a proposal with such magnitude,'' said Scott Noble, King County assessor. ``This is a weapon of mass destruction on...